Hi everyone. For over a week there has been something rattling around in the right rear of my 855t. After pulling everything I could think of out and not affecting the rattle it dawned on my to check the upper shock mounts. I'd already been under the car and everything was ok there.

I flipped up the right rear seat back and felt for the upper mount and sure enough, it's broken. Bouncing the car up and down doesn't cause the rattle but I can see the panel just over the mount move.

Question is, how do I get that narrow panel just behind the rear seat out to gain access? Haynes says remove the screws and pull forward but I don't see any screws. I have the third seat in the back also fwiw.

Groton is going to have the mounts to me on Wednesday and I'd like to drop them in asap. Any help appreciated.

Thanks,
Erwin in Memphis

If you remove the rear folding access panel you gain access to the four bolts holding down the rear panel. In your case you might have to remove the third seat, I just have the folding panel. If you're lucky, the tac welded fasteners up inside the body that the upper shock mount fasten to won't snap off in removing or installing the new mounts. On both my 94 and 97 850s I ended up using new nuts and bolts back up in there because the tac welded stuff failed as I tried to replace the upper mounts. It might be a good idea to have replacement hardware on the ready, just in case. Or in case your luck is anything like mine. A pretty straight forward job otherwise.
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Wallie

Thanks Wallie,

I'll have the parts tomorrow and a clear schedule in the evening. I also have hardware in case it's needed.

So I'll remove the rearmost panel, which is third seat bottom and just lifts out, flip up the other panel which is the third seat back and look for mounting bolts. I also have the Volvo CD changer mounted against the driver's side bulkhead under the right rear window so if that floor panel has to come out the changer will too.

Thanks again,
Erwin in Memphis

Once you have the folding panel and or third seat out then the last panel half lifts out iirc. You'll see the four bolts maybe 10-12mm in size. After you get the last panel unbolted you'll have full access to the top of the mounts. Good luck and have your hw ready just in case. Maybe you won't need it if things don't rust in your locale!?
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Wallie